Dr. Phil Zeltzman’s Blog

After visiting the Georgia Aquarium, I had the unique opportunity to visit “Project Chimps” in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of northern Georgia. It’s a 240 acre sanctuary that is currently home to about 30 chimpanzees, all rescued from a biomedical research facility.

Arthur (above)

It will eventually be able to provide sanctuary to 300 chimps!

If you remember the compound where the cute dinos are kept in Jurassic Park, it gives you a pretty good idea of what the chimps’ amazing permanent retirement home looks like.

Because they were used for research, these chimps make their caregivers and veterinary team’s lives somewhat easy. They can show you their hand, stick their arm out or open their mouth, all on command. The sanctuary has a fully equipped veterinary clinic with X-rays and a surgery room; a prep kitchen (made possible by Rachael Ray !!!); and a room full of toys used for enrichment!

The team is now working on completing the outdoor habitat. This will allow the chimps, who have lived their entire lives in research facilities, to play outside for the first time in their lives.

Chimpanzees are great apes who can live over 50 years. Project Chimps was founded to provide a permanent, long-term home where they can thrive.

Do you love the idea?

How can you support this amazing project? The sanctuary is not currently open to the public, but private educational tours will be available soon. Meanwhile, you can help out financially (https://projectchimps.org/support-us/donate/).

You can literally sponsor a chimp for $23 per month!

You can also buy toys, supplies and… nuts through an Amazon wish list.

. Significant decrease in appetite for more than 24 hours, or complete loss

. Straining to urinate or defecate

. Eating a poison of any type

. Bloating or a distended belly

Respiratory signs:

. Difficulty breathing of any sort

. Severe or ongoing coughing

Orthopedic signs:

. Limping

. Broken bone

. Painful joint

. Dragging of or weakness in one leg or more

Ultimately, just about anything that worries you is a reason to go to your local emergency clinic. Think about it. What’s better, a false alarm, or arriving too late? If you’re not sure what to do, at least call please the staff at the emergency clinic to ask what they recommend.

Lucy, a sweet 6 year old Golden, started limping in her left back leg. Her family vet’s X-rays showed that something, most likely bone cancer, was eating her thigh bone (femur) away (see red arrows).

There weren’t a whole lot of options: the best course of action was to sacrifice the leg. Before that, we ensured that her blood work was normal and that chest X-rays did not show any spreading of the (presumed) cancer to the lungs.

A few days later, I traveled to the practice to perform the amputation. Everything went well in surgery.

The very next day, Lucy started to walk around on 3 legs. She was comfortable and started to eat nicely.

A week later, the biopsy confirmed the suspicion of bone cancer (osteosarcoma). The next step was to discuss chemotherapy, which is recommended in the case of bone cancer.

With amputation alone for confirmed osteosarcoma, the average survival is 3 to 6 months. With amputation and chemotherapy, we hope for an average survival of at least one year. When we recommend treatment, our goal is more about quality of life than quantity of life (aka survival time).

Amputation is typically needed because of severe trauma or cancer – most often bone cancer. No pet owner ever opens a bottle of champagne when their pet needs a leg amputation. Yet it’s very important to understand and believe that virtually 100% of dogs and all cats do great on 3 legs. My most surprising patient, Gator, was able to swim in the pool with 3 legs (and a life jacket).

To this day, I have never met a client who has told me that they regretted their decision to amputate their pet. As long as we are on the same page, and we all decide as the pet’s advocate, we typically get good results, regardless of the amount of time left.

In other words, we would rather have 3, 6 or 12 months of quality life, than 3 years of misery.

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“ You reconstructed the leg of my cat, Silla, who had suffered a spiral fracture of the left tibia. I am delighted to say that Silla, who is now almost 4, is still doing well. :-) Thank you for such a wonderful job well done!!! ”

“ Thank you for making Zoey almost as good as new. The recovery went faster and better than we expected. It has been a pleasure working with you. ”

“ We cannot thank you enough. We have no children, and our puppies mean the world to us. Every minute that we have with her since that day, we owe to you. So again, from the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ”

“ Words cannot describe how grateful my wife and I are for saving Dusty’s life. Although we were hesitant to have the surgery, you told us that age is not a disease and Dusty is otherwise healthy. Two weeks after surgery, Dusty is happier than ever! Has loads of energy and breathes normally now! ”

“ I cannot thank you enough for what you have done for Harley, and for us, his family. If it had not been for you and your orthopedic skills, Harley would have either lost his leg or maybe even put down. You are truly an extraordinary surgeon. Thank you for giving Harley back to us. ”

“ Thank you for all your love and care while Maverick stayed with you! How comforting to know there are still nice people in the word who care about animals so much (including the caring attitude toward their owners). Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, and Maverick’s. ”

“ I wanted to say thanks again for being so responsive and caring and for returning my little doggie back to health. He is a smiling boy once again! Many, many thanks to you. ”

“ It is almost a year since you repaired the broken foreleg of my then tiny black kitten Cinder. He is now big, strong, and very active. Thanks again for your expertise and dedication. ”

The materials offered on this website are intended for educational purposes only. Dr Phil Zeltzman does not provide any veterinary medical services or guidance via the Internet. Please consult your pet’s veterinarian in matters regarding the care of your animals.